This invention is related to articles of jewelry and more particularly, to an improved mounting for precious or semi-precious gems in a freely reciprocal condition so as to achieve unusual and unexpected visual effects.
Gem stones, sometimes referred to as "jewels", are cut and faceted in order to enhance their brilliance. The faceting, if performed properly, produces a maximum amount of light reflection within and from the jewel. It is known that the faceting of a jewel is a very skilled and exacting art. Oftentimes, because of the natural characteristics of a stone, or because of inability, inexperience or accident on the part of the gem cutter, it is not possible to perfectly facet a gem stone. As a result, a jewel of less than full brilliance is produced. Further, precious or semi-precious stones, whether faceted or unfaceted, will vary in brilliance in accordance with their quality. The better quality jewels, for instance, are more brilliant in appearance and, of course, more expensive.
In the case of diamonds, stones of lesser brilliance and faceted quality still are in great demand. Mountings for gems have been developed which attempt to increase the amount of light permitted to impinge upon and pass through a gem stone in order to increase the apparent brilliance of such stones. Such mounting structures are not only employed with the less perfect stones noted above, but are also utilized with very fine stones to increase their apparent brilliance. Generally, however, such mountings have maximized the amount of light impinging directly on the entire jewel. Prior art attempts have not utilized movement of the gem in its mounting on the article of jewelry in order to increase the amount of light passed to and through the jewel, thereby increasing its brilliance. Further, the prior art has not sought to provide a jewel mounting which will collect the unavailable light and pass the same through the stone for enhancing its brilliance and thereby enable jewels of lesser quality and value to be used but with increased esthetic beauty comparable to that achieved with more expensive jewels.